


Behind Closed Doors

by Yogurt_Tea



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hope's Peak Academy (Dangan Ronpa), Alternate Universe - No Killing Game (Dangan Ronpa), Cuddling, Gen, happy birthday ran!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-08
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2019-05-19 17:09:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14877906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yogurt_Tea/pseuds/Yogurt_Tea
Summary: Everyone in Hope's Peak Academy knows Kokichi and Kaito are always at each other's necks. It doesn't take a genius to see that. If you were friends with both of them, you would see it was more like rivals constantly trying to one-up the other and not genuinely hostile towards each other.Shuichi is friends with the both of them, and considers himself fairly intuitive. And yet when he opens the door to Kokichi's dorm, he is surprised at what he sees to say the least.





	Behind Closed Doors

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Thefriedyoshi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thefriedyoshi/gifts).



> This fic is dedicated to the continued existence of Ran. Bless

Shuichi is stumped. He has already looked for Kaito in all the obvious spots and yet his friend is no where to be found. It is always at night that this happens. Kaito never misses meeting Maki and him up for training, but Shuichi can never find him beforehand.

Shuichi noticed Kaito’s periodic disappearance three days ago when he found that Kaito had left his cell phone in class. Shuichi decided to look for him before they met up for training, but he couldn’t find him anywhere. The dorms, the cafeteria, the gym, even under the cedar tree at the top of the hill that Kaito went to to stargaze. That day he asked Kaito where he was but he lied to Shuichi and said he was just chilling in his room, even though that was the first place Shuichi checked. Shuichi didn’t push it.

The obvious assumption would be that Kaito has a secret lover, but Kaito isn't the type to go sneaking around when it comes to romance. He's the type to shout from the roof about how much he loves his girlfriend and all that. It leaves Shuichi to worry something more serious is going on.

Shuichi is the Ultimate Detective. He’s just looking out for his friend, and even if this is shaky moral ground, he would rather be safe than sorry. If it is something serious,then nobody would realize it until it is too late.

He hasn’t asked any of the others yet, before he starts worrying people, he’s going to try and find out for himself what is happening.

The only other times Kaito isn't in the usual spots in the academy is when he is chasing Kokichi for one reason or another. Those two got along like oil and water. You cound they would say that those two absolutely abhorred each other. If you had seen them interact with each other enough, as Shuichi has, you would say that they don't really hate each othet, but are more like bitter rivals constantly trying to one up the other. Kaito always complained about Kokichi Regardless they always caused quite a ruckus.

The only issue is that Shuichi has been looking for a while and he would've heard yelling at this point if Kaito is with Kokichi, or at least someone would have seen them. Normally when they start fighitng, Shuichi or Rantaro are the ones who have to clean up the mess. Shuichi, because he’s friends with both of them, and Rantaro because he’s been unofficially designated as the responsible adult.

Shuihci is walking through the hallway, heading back to his room when he sees a dorm door still left agape. A look at the nameplate reveals it to Kokichi’s room. Odd, Kokichi isn't that careless. Nervously he tried to listen if anyone is inside. There's the muffled sound  of a television running.

Shuichi slowly opens the door, careful not to make a sound. Kokichi has told him before that Shuichi is always welcome to his room (and to his bed, but Shuichi’s mostly certain that was a joke). He’s been inside Kokichi’s room before, but it’s noticeably cleaner than before. Very odd.

Shuichi is about to announce his presence when he hears a laugh that most certainly doesn't belong to Kokichi. He freezes. Someone else is in there.

He then hears a voice that is undoubtedly Kokichi’s respond. He’s talking so quietly Shuichi can’t distinguish the words being spoken, but the tone is of undeniable fondness and affection that Shuichi’s never heard before.

Shuichi turns around to leave the scene. He’s intruding on something very personal and private. He should leave immediately.

Just as Shuichi is about to step outside the room, the other occupant speaks up slightly annoyed and loud enough for Shuichi to hear, “If I smell so bad you can get off anytime.”

That voice. It sounds like Kaito. If Shuichi didn’t know better, he would think that it was Kaito in Kokichi’s room, just speaking right now. But it couldn’t be.

Shuichi's curiosity overrides his fear of getting caught. He’ll blame the innate inner detective in him later, but he quietly steps forward, closer to the sound of the television. The floor is somewhat navigable without the normal abundance of plastic bottles and odd things like rubber ducks, but Shuichi still has to take great care in not stepping on anything that would make a noise.

He approaches the doorframe into the bedroom and pokes his head cautiously into the room. He has to cover his mouth to stifle his gasp of surprise.

Sure enough, the other occupant of the room is Kaito. Kokichi and Kaito in the same room but without the friction the two are infamous for. In fact, quite the opposite. They’re both sitting on Kokichi’s bed watching some comedy on his small television.

That alone would have caused Shuichi to stop in his tracks. Kaito in Kokichi’s room watching television together is something Shuichi never would have expected upon entering, but it doesn’t end there. Kokichi is practically resting his head in Kaito’s lap with his arms loosely wrapped around his waist. If the way Kaito is softly stroking Kokichi’s hair is any indication, it doesn’t look like Kokichi’s hugging Kaito just to tease him. There is genuine affection between the two of them, one that Shuichi has never seen before. One nobody has seen before.

His mind reels for a moment and he blinks a few times to make sure he’s not just imagining it. No matter how many times he pinches himself, the two of them are still there, embracing each other’s company like lovers. Given how comfortable they look with each other, Shuichi doubts this is the first time.

Shuichi subconsciously takes a step backwards. He should go. If one of them glance towards the door, they’ll see Shuichi gawking at them. Confrontation is not one of Shuichi’s strong suits, and somethig Shuichi doesn’t want to deal it while trespassing into Kokichi’s dorm. Shuichi would mull over this later. He quickly navigates himself out of the dorm, taking great care in ensuring this time the door is shut as so nobody else could do what he had just done. Kaito could explain himself tomorrow. Just, maybe when the Supreme Leader isn’t around.

 

~~~

 

The change in their relationship could be traced back to when Kokichi found Kaito doing pushups at 2AM behind the school.

Kokichi was walking back to the academy after a rough incident with one of the DICE members. He heard one of them ended up in the hospital, he rushed out as fast as he could. He skipped the entire day of school to go there. Thankfully they got lucky and there was no serious injuryUnfortunately Kokichi only brought enough money for a one-way trip and ended up walking back to the academy. It isn’t a problem physically, it just took more time than he wanted. When he was going back, he heard groaning in the distance. Kokichi would have normally just chalked it down to some horny teenagers except the sounds weren’t coming from inside the academy, but outside.

He walked closer out of curiosity and found Kaito doing push-ups behind the school. Judging from the sweat and how his arms were shaking from overexertion Kaito had been there for awhile. He looked startled when Kokichi called out to him. It easily escalated into shouts and insults. Kaito was clearly venting some frustration out here. There was something major bothering Kaito, and although Kokichi wasn’t even his friend, instead of leaving him for sleep, he stayed with him and argued with Kaito to help get his mind off whatever was bothering him. Kokichi’s choice to stay with him was probably influenced by the stress he himself faced earlier that day with DICE. Probably dumb sentiments that spilled over after finding nothing serious happened to his organization members.

Eventually, despite the half-hearted insults they kept slinging for the next hour, they both fell asleep under the shade of the birch tree. It was to be expected considering how both of them were beyond tired and running on fumes. The following morning Kokichi missed all his morning classes. He doesn’t know if Kaito missed his classes, Kokichi woke up alone. The shade of the tree protected him from the harsh glare of the sun high overhead. When he sat up he realized there was a galactic printed jacket wrapped around him.

That was the start in the shift in their relationship.

There were other things that happened following that. There was one time Kaito took care of Kokichi when he got fainted from exerting himself when sick. Despite Kokichi’s protests, Kaito stubbornly helped him back to his dorm and stuck around until Kokichi recovered. Following that, Kokichi bought him a crepe to make them even. Of course Kokichi gave the excuse that the shopkeeper got his order wrong and that Kokichi didn’t want it. Kaito looked happy with it all the same. Although maybe the real start of them hanging out in each other’s dorms was when Kaito learned Kokichi hadn’t seen Star Wars.

Kokichi snuggles closer as Kaito continues absentmindedly stroking his hair. Despite their differences, there is a connection between the two of them. Even if they both deny it, to others and themselves, there are moments like now where they simply don’t question it and let the moment be. Maybe they were both a bit touch-starved, or maybe it was just to have someone to make fun of movies with. It could’ve been a variable of different things. Regardless they’d be at each other’s throats tomorrow morning over something infinitesimal for sure.

Most the time when they were alone like this, Kokichi would give Kaito hell. Asking if Kaito is so desperate for company that he’ll even take him, if Kaito is trying to get close enough to him to choke him to death and many, other variations. It’s not that suddenly Kokichi is a different person without an audience. In the rare moments where Kokichi would let up on being bratty as shit, he would flop onto Kaito or just hug him. Kaito protested for him to get off, but of course Kokichi just clinged onto him tighter with that terrifying smile. Instead of fighting for him to get off like Kokichi wanted, Kaito instead just patted his head. Kokichi gave him a weird look before letting go and sticking out his tongue at him. Following that, Kokoichi ended up being slightly more physical with Kaito. It eventually ended up resulting in a moment like this that was typically reserved for lovers. It was peaceful. A word one would definitely not associate with the Supreme Leader.

It would be much more peaceful than the next morning when Shuichi asked Kaito if he was dating Kokichi.


End file.
